Data on the scope of the literature on participatory sustainability science 2000–2018: Bibliography and meta-analysis of selected studies

The data presented in this DiB article offers an insight into scientific literature on conceptual and empirical approaches on participatory sustainability science from 2000 to 2018. It consists of articles retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science as well as Google Scholar that feature “transitions”, “sustainability”, “case study”, “transdisciplinary” and “participation” in varying combinations in title, abstract or author keywords. Information on bibliography is recorded. Metadata on how the articles were analysed is provided in the dataset. On the basis of 207 relevant articles, 31 case studies were selected and criteria applied to distinguish four approaches to participation that have been planned and practiced in the participation process of the studies. The data is related to the research article entitled “(Un)intended effects of participation in sustainability science: A criteria-guided comparative case study”. The information shows which approach to participation was implemented in the analysed studies.